We Belong In The Sea
by Hazel Oakleigh
Summary: CHAPTER 5 NOW UP! Vlad is being made to sit through more annoying "vampire lessons" with the Count so its Robin and Chloe to the rescue. Vlad is then invited on a Branaugh camping trip; what will happen in the middle of the English forest? Vlad/Robin.
1. The Rescue

**I'm absolutely in love with Young Dracula, and this is my first try at writing a YD fan fiction. I do know basically where it's going, and I hope you'll all give it a chance :)**

**_Chapter One- The Rescue_**

It was another sunny Sunday at the castle Dracula. Of course, as Vladimir very well knew, this put his father in a foul mood. Nothing despised him more than the sun and having to live off rats and sheep for the moment so as not to disturb the "peasants" as he called them. Vlad could actually hear from all the way up in his bedroom that the Count was not happy; he was screaming so loud.

"I'm sick of all this sunshine and happiness! And I want _real_ food! Where are some peasants? I need breather blood! If I have to eat off another animal I'll be sick!"

Vlad cringed from his bed, where he was sitting there talking to Zoltan about his week at school.

"You should have seen Ingrid, Zoltan. She actually had them lining up with gifts in order to be her husband. It was awful. I just wish I could do some sort of trade with her or something; everyone knows I don't want to be the heir, or even a vampire.  
She's crazy for it. I just want to be a normal kid. Not some blood crazed vampire who just goes around killing people all the time. It's not me Zoltan; I'm the odd one out here."

The literally roller-wolf gave Vlad a sad look, and shook the fleas from his messy grey coat.  
"I know master Vlad, but you're going to have to learn to deal with it someday, it's something you cannot change. Your sixteenth birthday will approach soon, and after that, it's vampire life, or no life."  
Vlad gave him an irritated look. "Thanks for the reassurance, Zoltan."

Before said dog could reply to his master, he was interrupted. Vlad knew what was coming before it was even spoken.  
"VLADIMIR! GET DOWN HERE AT ONCE!"  
Vlad sighed and got up from his bed, not wanting to visit his dad when he was in this state, but knowing if he didn't, he'd be up in his room destroying everything in sight.

He walked down the stairs of the castle that was their home, taking his time. At this point, he really wished the Branaugh's hadn't gone camping without him. But after the last time they tried camping with the Dracula's… let's just say camping inside the castle mixed with male rivalry between fathers' didn't work. That was the last time Vlad would bother celebrating 'fathers' day' with his dad; it just wasn't worth the hassle.

"I SAID AT ONCE, VLADIMIR!"  
His fathers' shouting was becoming unbearable now. Vlad thought he better hurry, he didn't want to be the target of another of his dad's sunny day wraths. Last time he'd been suspended from the roof of the castle and had pitchforks thrown at him in what the Count called "peasant dodging training."

He tried to remain in a calm state as he walked into the stone living room lit with more relentless candles that he was sick to death of seeing. Couldn't they get some electricity around here sometime?  
"Hi… dad." He said nervously, watching from the archway to the living room, where his father was perched on one of the chairs looking irritated and fed up.

"Vladdie my boy! There you are." He moved like the speed of light over to where his son was standing, waiting to be executed. "I'm bored son! Have you seen today's weather? It's absolutely revolting."  
Vlad looked into his fathers' eyes as he decided what to answer. "Yes dad I have, and I was hoping I could go outside and practice my rugby a bit more today. I haven't had a chance to since I got into the team."  
The count glowered at him. "Oh no, absolutely not! For one, I didn't even want you on that wretched team in the first place if you weren't even going to do the right thing and cheat, smash and deceive your way through the game, which you're obviously not. Besides, you need to stay indoors and get a nice pale complexion."  
Vlad sighed; he knew what was coming next.

"No Vlad, today is time to make up for last week… when those wretched breathers came and stole my dignity. We need to prove them wrong once more, by doing… what did you call it? 'Father and Son' activities? Some bonding is what we need my boy, and it starts today."

Vlad looked up at his father hopefully. "You mean we're actually going to be doing things together? Us? Having fun? Wow! This is different." He smiled his fangless grin with a glimmer of hope.

"Oh yes Vladdie my boy, it's time to get to know one another more. And we'll start with food…" The hunger that now glazed over his fathers' eye told Vlad one thing; this wasn't normal father son bonding. This was the Counts' way of getting him to once again partake in 'vampire training.'  
"Dad. I don't want to do your stupid idea of food hunting. Can't we do it the normal way? You know, hunting with spears and all that in the wild? Or even going to the supermarket and picking up food off the shelves? Would that be so bad?"

The Count looked as if Vlad had grown three heads. "You will understand the importance of human blood soon Vlad. But for now, I NEED SOME PEASANT BREATHER BLOOD! I CANT STAND THIS ANY LONGER!"  
He lost control of all his senses, falling to the floor in a heap. Vlad could see his fathers' veins popping out through his skin on his neck in anger, knowing that he was in agony having to live off animals for so long. He put a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him.

"RENFIELD!" At once, the servant known as Renfield that the Count had hired, came running through the archway.  
"Yes master?" He said through his rotting teeth and gums, looking as though he hadn't showered in years with his greasy lack of hair and tattered clothing, and not known what a toothbrush was from the day he was born.

"Renfield. Catch me… a breather. I need one now. My strength is failing me." He placed his hand over his no longer beating heart for added effect.  
"Certainly… Master." Choked his servant, who had never had such a task set before him, and being a 'breather' himself, was quite nervous about.

Vlad's rage was instant.  
"Dad no! You promised you wouldn't attack anyone around here! It's too dangerous! And the chances are, I'll know the person who you're planning to kill." He looked his dad sternly in the eye, putting both his hands on his fathers' shoulders to keep him on the floor.

Of course this was no threat to the Count, and merely ran to the other side of the room in a flash, so fast it merely looked like he was teleporting from one end of the room to the other.  
A pained expression crossed his face. "Argh… Fine Vladdie, but only for you my son. I know how much these… pathetic breathers mean to you. But all in good time it will come, and when it does, you will care for them no longer." Vlad rolled his eyes.

"Now, as we are not going hunting today," He looked sad as he stared at the ceiling for the moment. "We will most definitely be doing vampire training! – NO arguments Vlad!" He added, when seeing the look on his son's face, clearly showing his resentment toward the idea and a great willingness to object.  
"If you are denying me the feast of human blood, you will be doing this training." He spoke in his typical breathy voice that made it sound as though he were seducing somebody.

Vlad sighed; he knew he wasn't going to be able to get out of this one.

The Count again summoned Renfield.  
"The blackboard Renfield. Hurry! And Vlad, sit down at the table and take out your note blackboard and chalk, we shall now be going over the basics to get them back in your head."

As Vlad sat down in the cold stone chair laced his fathers usual velvet drapes and cushions, Renfield ran in with the blackboard and easel for his master to write on.  
"Take notes, Vlad. I will be checking at the end of the day to make sure you have been paying attention. Now… let us begin."

Vlad put his head in his hands as his father turned to the blackboard. He was in for a very, very long day.

"Make sure you write all these headings boy. You need to know the basics."  
"Yes dad…" Vlad looked up in disinterest at the board, reading the words solely for writing them and nothing else. He didn't want to take a bit in.

"Fang hygiene? Flying lessons? Haven't we already gone over this before??"  
He stared at his father in disbelief. It was merely a few weeks ago that Vlad had been suspended from school, and so inturn, the Count had decided to become his teacher for the time of his suspension. It had taken clever thinking by Robin and Chloe to get him out of it, and a little accidental help from his 'evil' sister Ingrid and surprisingly, Mr. Van Helsing.

All he could remember of the lessons were that they were a nightmare, and his father was so articulate about everything, that if you put one foot wrong, you would hear about it for weeks.

The Count turned from writing on the board and looked at his son witheringly.  
"Yes, you're quite right Vlad, we have. But pray tell, what do you remember learning from your lessons? Tell me one thing, and you may go back to your room." He smirked, knowing what was coming next from his favourite and most difficult child.

Vlad sighed. "Nothing…" He banged his head on the table, knowing it was useless to argue.

The Count smiled. "That's what I thought. Now, we begin." He murmured something to Renfield, who smiled, before turning back to the blackboard, sweeping his cloak across the floor and his shoulder length black hair behind his ear.

"Now I want you to take more notes Vladdie. _Decent _notes this time. I will be checking! Your breather friend Robin is better at learning these things than you are and he isn't even a vampire! I'm so ashamed of you." He spoke still facing the blackboard, scribbling notes in his perfect vampire script up on the board for Vlad to copy.

The blonde boy sighed, he didn't care for the training in the slightest, but to have his father ashamed of him was the same horrible feeling most boys have. He wanted to at least keep him reasonably happy. He knew he was in for a long day.

An hour or so later, Vlad was _still_ note taking. He was onto his fifth board, and he hadn't learnt a thing, whether it be because he simply refused to let it sink in, or he just wasn't smart enough, he didn't particularly care. As long as he didn't have to think about things that made him closer to a vampire than he already was.

"Right!" His father's voice breaking the silence made Vlad jump a mile.  
"Dad, don't scare me like that!" He complained; feeling more irritated by the minute.

The Count turned and looked at his son in complete disbelief, he furrowed his brow and gazed deeply into Vlad's eyes; not unlike when he was attempting to hypnotise a breather victim.

"Now I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that, Vladimir. But the number one rule of being a vampire is to _always be on your guard._ You don't want to be scared off by your prey now do you?" He scoffed. "God, if only the Grand High Vampire could see you now, he'd be disgusted."

Vlad went to reply, but was interrupted by the entrance of his sister, Ingrid. It was perhaps the first time he could remember being thankful of her sudden angry appearances.  
She stormed in the room, wearing her usual attire of a black and red dress with many layers of black lace and trimmings with her chunky black doc martin boots, looking truly evil and what others at her school called 'Goth'. Her makeup was darker than usual, and her eyes glowered with anger.

"Dad! I need some money for the-" She stopped, her voice faltering for a split second as her gaze turned towards the blackboard full of notes on how to keep your vampire fangs clean and healthy. She noted Vlad sitting there with his own note blackboard and her father preparing more notes; Vlad could almost swear he saw her nostrils flare for a moment.

"What?! Why is he doing this training again?! Why can't I? I want to learn how to be a vampire, it's not fair! He doesn't even care about it at all, you can tell by how he's sitting and the way he's always complaining to that stupid flee-bag on wheels! ARGH!"  
The black lamp she was holding went flying across the room and smashed against the wall, narrowly missing Renfield's head. He whimpered slightly and ran from the room before his master could notice.

The Count glowered down at his only daughter in fury.  
"INGRID DRACULA what on earth do you think you're doing?! You know you're not as important as young Vlad here, and besides, you're a girl! I thought I'd already made this perfectly clear!" His voice calmed down slightly, and he smirked at her intensely.  
"Now you will clean this mess up young lady, I will not have you destroying my beautiful home with your incessant whining and smashing of objects. Do you hear me?"

Ingrid glared spitefully up at her father, her arms folded over her chest.  
"Oh yes, I hear you. Clean it up yourself you garlic muncher! I hope you get tooth decay!"  
With her final words, she ran out of the room. A few steps later, the front door slammed shut, and Ingrid was no longer in the building.  
Vlad had to admit, as annoying as her sister was, she knew how to put up a fight.

He turned to look at his father, who was staring out the room in disgust.  
"Well enough of that, now that she's gone we can continue lad!"  
Vlad sighed, that's exactly what he had feared.

"Now…" The Count paused in thought. "A more instructive demonstration is called for I think. I will need more supplies… which are in the… cupboard? Renfield, get me my supply kit." He said, clearly not realising that aforementioned servant was hiding away somewhere in the Castle in fear of his very own daughters actions.

"Uh dad, Renfield ran away." Vlad informed his father; hoping that this meant his day's session was over and he could go out and practise rugby before it got dark.

"Oh god, again? That's the third time this week! Right, you stay here Vlad my boy, and I'll go and fetch him and the supplies. God only knows where he's gone off to now."  
With that, his father was gone in a swish of his cloak, leaving Vlad very much alone at the stone table.

He stared at the ceiling, wishing the day were almost over, but alas, it was only just approaching the afternoon, and he knew this would last until at least dinner time. Sighing, he began to count the markings on the table, waiting for his father to return with more things for him to learn about.

A minute or so passed, when out of the silence a quick "_Psst!" _was heard quietly.  
Vlad jumped a bit in his seat, his mind momentarily distracted by the sound, before thinking he must have been imagining things and scolding himself for thinking there was anyway out of this day.

A few seconds later, the same "_Psssst!!" _sound was heard, but slightly longer and louder than the first. He thought he really mustn't be dreaming if he heard it a second time, and stood up from his seat, arching his back as it was sore from sitting down so long, and looked around the room for the source of the noise. He couldn't see anything other than the usual velvet curtains and stone furniture. Vlad sighed, this was getting ridiculous.

Then, out of the shadows, he heard two voices this time.  
Very familiar voices.  
"The coast is clear Chloe, go!"  
"Okay, Okay, I was just making sure in case we got our heads ripped off, or worse, bitten."  
"That wouldn't be so bad you know."

Vlad smiled for what felt like the first time that day; he knew who those voices were now.  
"Guys I can hear you know. It's ok, you can come out; he's gone for the moment."

A rustle of noise from the curtains being untangled from the pair was heard, and then out walked Chloe and Robin Branaugh.  
Vlad couldn't be more pleased to see his two best friends, who happened to be brother and sister, although they looked nothing alike.  
Chloe was short in stature, with long white blonde hair and was just a naturally smart girl.  
Robin, on the other hand, was slightly taller than his sister, with short, dark brown hair and a few freckles here and there. He, however in no way stupid, just wasn't all that bright sometimes.

Of course the obvious difference was in their dress, with Chloe in normal, everyday clothes that did not attract attention, and Robin in slightly more… eccentric dress for everyday life. He insisted on wearing a cape most hours of the day so that he could mimic his obsession; vampires. He almost always wore black underneath that, not anything out of the ordinary, just a t-shirt and jeans or pants, as well as a leather jacket when he wasn't wearing his cape.  
He also had a great passion for art, even if it was a little morbid in Vlad's view, and was a great chessman.  
Despite being a bit 'weird' in everyone's view, Vlad was glad Robin was his best friend. Who was he to talk? Having a bloodsucker for a father and he himself due to become one in only a short year was bound to be classed as weird.  
But Vlad was sure that Robin would be alone again if they hadn't decided to move to Stokely.  
Upon meeting him for the first time when he started his new school, Stokely Grammar, he'd notice Robin was a bit of a loner and felt sorry for him, knowing what it was like. But Robin was a loyal friend, and always joined him in his adventures and helped them out of tough spots. He was also just a great mate.

He hadn't seen Robin or Chloe in a few days, as they had both been absent from school due to having colds, but now they were obviously well again. It was a relief to see them well.

"Hi Vlad!" Robin gave his usual happy smile and looked around the room at what he was doing.  
"We knew as soon as we saw the sunny weather he'd be in a bad mood and we didn't want you to suffer too much." Chloe smiled sadly, realising at the same time as Robin what the Count was putting him through that day.  
Vlad knew who she meant by 'he'.

"Oh wow! You're doing vampire training _again?!_ You are so lucky; my dads' idea of any sort of 'training' is taking us out on a hiking trip or something. It's a nightmare."  
He played with his cape fondly as he spoke.

"Hey! Can I take your place Vlad? Please?! I didn't get a chance to learn that much last time, and you hate it, so it'd be perfect! It'd be great to learn more from a real life vampire, and you can take my place at home washing dishes and getting dragged outside and being forced to play football in the backyard." Robin shuddered at the thought.

Vlad grinned, "Sure Robin, you can take my place, trust me, it's nowhere near as fun as it looks."

Chloe interrupted with her usual level headed self.  
"Oh don't be ridiculous Robin, you know what will happen when dad realises your gone and comes looking for you."

Robin looked to the ground sadly. "Oh, that's right."  
Vlad saw how shattered his best friend was and tried to comfort him.  
"Don't worry about it Robin, the state my dad's in, you wouldn't be safe learning anything from him except how to be his lunch." He tried to make a joke of it then realised what he'd said was very much true.

He looked up at the siblings in alarm; the only one of the two to also realise being Chloe, whereas Robin had gone off in a day dream about being the Count's next meal no doubt.

"You guys have to get out of here before he comes back! Quick! Or you'll be done for!"  
Chloe grabbed Robins arm just as they heard footsteps coming down the hall. Vlad realised his father was in such a daze without having anything to eat that he didn't seem to be able to just _appear_ wherever he wanted. That was good; it bought him more time.

"Come on Robin, we have to leave!" Chloe smacked him across the chest to get his attention.  
"Ouch! What was that for?!" Robin protested, rubbing his chest where he was sure a red mark would appear from the hit. He then seemed to register the footsteps and came to his senses. Before he could let his sister drag him out the front door, he turned to his best friend.  
"Vlad, come with us, you know you'll only be miserable here. Even though it's the coolest thing ever!" "ROBIN!" The pair shouted.  
"Sorry let me try that again. You know you'll be miserable here today Vlad, so why not come with us? We did come here to keep you company."

Vlad hesitated for a moment, weighing out both the good and bad of running away with Robin and Chloe. He knew his father would be furious as soon as he realised that his only son had disappeared, but he also knew that was nothing compared to the torture he was receiving undertaking stupid vampire lessons all day. Besides, if it got him out of the castle for at least one day with his friends, he'd take all the punishments in the world.

"Let's go!" He said abruptly, taking the offered hand of he wasn't sure who as they were in such a hurry, and ran to the door. They had to open in quietly so they didn't make it creak too much and alert his father, and once they were on the outside of it, breathed a sigh of relief.

"And just what do you think you're doing?!" Came an angry and spiteful voice, breathing down on them like the vicious person she was.  
"Please Ingrid, don't tell dad. I'll do anything, just don't tell him. I'm going over to the Branaugh's for a while… Please don't tell dad." He pleaded.

Vlad's sister looked at all three with a smirk on her attractive face.  
"Well, well. Vampire boys finally got some guts to be bad does he?." She laughed quietly to herself. "Okay, I won't tell dad, but you have to promise me one thing."  
"Anything!" He promised, just wanting to get out of there before the person in conversation reached the door.  
"I get your room while you're gone and you do all my chores and homework for a month. That's it, take it or leave it."

Vlad looked at her in shock. "I thought you had Ian and Paul to do your homework for you?!" He said, referring to Robin and Chloe's somewhat dim-witted brothers who seemed to hold some sort of infatuation with Ingrid.

"Yes, well… they're not exactly the sharpest fang in the mouth now are they?"  
As Ingrid spoke, the other three heard the Count's voice float in from the dining room.

"Vlad where are you? Playing games with me are you lad? There's a good boy, you're finally practising your hunting skills. Now I'll be a breather hiding in the castle, and you'll come and find me." Footsteps were heard drifting away toward the crypt.

Vlad sensed it was _really_ time to leave now.  
"Okay, okay! Fine! Whatever you want I'll do it. Just please don't go through my stuff."  
A look of triumph quickly flashed across Ingrid's face, and Chloe pulled on Vlad's arm.

"We really must leave now Vlad before your father or Renfield finds us out here."  
He knew she was right, so he looked at his fifteen year old sister one last time.  
"Thanks Ingrid, I owe you one."  
"You bet you do. Now hurry and get out of here. I'll distract dad for a while."  
Vlad smiled; maybe Ingrid wasn't as bad as he thought she was.

"Oh, and don't be surprised when you get home if all your stuff is gone from your room. By distract I mean discuss these ridiculous room allocations." She turned and walked back into the castle with a swish of her cloak.

No, Ingrid was definately still as bad as she always was. But at least it got him out of here.

**Let me know what you think! Please review :)**


	2. Getting Settled

**Somewhat shorter chapter than the first, but they will be getting longer I swear! I want to see if anyone is actually going to bother reading this so please review so I know :)**

**_Chapter Two- Getting Settled_**

Vlad, Robin and Chloe had walked from the castle to the Branaugh's quicker than ever before. Vlad because he didn't want to get in trouble earlier than he had to, and to protect his friends from becoming his next meal, and Robin and Chloe because basically, they didn't want to die just yet.

Upon arriving at the Branaugh's, Chloe bid them fair well, saying she had some Latin homework to do and disappeared off to her room. Robin and Vlad went to the lounge before they went to Robin's bedroom, to ask if Vlad could stay for dinner.  
Walking into the lounge room, the place seemed a right mess.

_"We're all going on a, Branaugh holiday. La la la la la, la la la."_

_  
_Vlad saw Robins' father packing bags in the middle of the lounge room floor, singing his holiday song happily along to himself. He couldn't help but smile as he watched Robin shudder at the sight of his father singing a slightly altered version of the song he sang when they went camping.  
"Right, let's get out of here before he asks us to join in." Robin hissed, backing away slowly and quickly heading to the kitchen, Vlad close behind him.

In the kitchen, Mrs Branaugh was just pulling a large family sized steak and kidney pie out of the oven. As she turned to seize the plates from the cupboard, she noticed her youngest son and his best friend standing there.

"Oh hello boys! Finally home I see Robin." She turned to Vlad. "He's been out all day you know." Vlad smiled politely not really knowing what to say, and Robin sighed at his mothers' attempt at small talk.  
"Mum, please, listen to me. Vlad's in a little bit of trouble at home… his dad's not really in a good mood at the moment, is it alright if he stays for dinner and sleeps over?"  
Robin looked hopeful; he hadn't had his best friend over in months due to the Count's strict rules for Vlad, and he had never actually been allowed to _sleep over_ due to these rules.

"Aw really? Of course you can dear!" She said, looking worried for Vlad but happy there was a guest to entertain at the same time. "Just make yourself at home; you've been a great friend to Robin so we'll be a great friend to you! Dinner's ready in ten minutes."

"Great mum thanks…" Robin looked warily at his mother after her slightly eccentric words and then at Vlad, who was trying not to laugh. "Come on, let's go to my room."

Dinner was a loud affair that evening, Vlad and Robin sitting at the far end of the large dining table, and the adults at the other, with the other three children in between.  
Ian and Paul were of course the loudest, asking Vlad all sorts of pathetic questions about Ingrid, until Robin's father, Graham put a stop to it.  
By the end of dinner, Vlad was invited to the next Branaugh camping trip, which left tomorrow and came home in a few days time depending on the weather. Graham and Elizabeth had allowed their children the few days off school and asked Vlad if his father would mind, to which he replied he would not; though he actually knew the opposite.

Secretly, Vlad was ecstatic. He and his father never did anything of the sort, and he had never been camping before. As he helped Robin and Chloe with the dishes, his mind wandered to his father up in the castle; he knew that if he were gone for a few days he'd be in a lot of trouble with the Count, but found himself not caring at that moment; he'd deal with him when he got home.

Finally safe back in Robin's bedroom, they set up Vlad's makeshift bed on the floor where he would be sleeping next to Robin's bed. He had offered Vlad his own bed of course, and suggested he himself sleep on the floor, but Vlad didn't want to intrude on the Branaugh's hospitality anymore than necessary, even if it was just his best friend and his bed.

"So, what shall we do tonight?' Robin asked when the mini bed made of many blankets and pillows was finally complete. "We can watch a DVD, play truth or dare, or I can ask more questions about being a vampire!" Robin looked hopeful at the last suggestion, and Vlad couldn't help but laugh. "Alright, but as long as I can ask you a few questions and you find us some lollies or crisps for the night."

Robin grinned his goofy grin. "Done." And flew out the room toward the kitchen cupboard no doubt.

While Robin was gone, Vlad took to looking around his bedroom. He hadn't been in it properly in ages. There was the same deep purple paint that made the room dark even during the middle of the day, Robin's same artworks scattered over the walls, with a few extra's added. He frowned as his eyes found the picture that looked as if it were done in straight black ink or charcoal, right next to Robin's bed of a castle and bat's flying around it. Vlad couldn't help but grimace at the sight; it made him think of home and what was waiting for him. And his destiny. Especially his destiny.

He had to admit though; his best friend was a pretty good artist.

His attentions turned to the window, where he remembered climbing in so long ago that first day of meeting Robin. He laughed as he remembered the look of awe that had crossed his face when he first thought Vlad had flown in. Not much had changed about the window; it still had the same fake cobwebs and spiders littering the surface, with fake skeletons peering out the glass as if trapped inside.

His room had still had the poles up for Robin's fake bats to hang on, but they'd needed to disband it for Vlad to be able to sleep on the floor, so he had put his bats above his bed.  
Candles, fake skulls, the black and red doona cover Robin had on his 'vampiric' looking bed, and the black and white spotted rug were still in their places; Vlad thought if only his room looked like this his father wouldn't be so disappointed in him all the time. He didn't think he could pull it off as believable as Robin though.  
He noticed a few things around the room that looked _very _familiar, such as ornaments, candlesticks and ancient candles themselves, that were clearly palpable to being taken from his own home. Vlad found he didn't care at all, thinking Robin brave to be game enough to take them in the first place. He smiled.

"Hope you don't mind lemonade and plain crisps." Came Robin's voice from the doorway. "Sorry, it's all we've got." He handed Vlad a glass, and poured he and himself a drink before opening the crisps.  
"That's alright. I haven't had any of this kind of food in ages! Anything will do." Vlad replied, before setting in hungrily to his crisps.  
Robin looked at him in shock. "If you're not getting fed enough Vlad, just tell me and I'll bring extra of everything I have to school for you; can't let the growing vampire go hungry." He said jokingly. Vlad just gave him a look. "Don't remind me."  
He sounded sharp, but was secretly pleased that Robin was so concerned about him; he didn't get that much at home. Well he did, but for the wrong reasons.

The night went so fast in Vlad's eyes. After eating what seemed like two truck loads of crisps and a gallon of lemonade, the pair settled down in their beds and began to talk.

"I really don't understand why you want to come camping with us." Robin said, switching the lamp off so the two were left in total darkness. They could tell the rest of the Branaugh's were asleep, as no longer did any noise float up the hallway and into the room except for Ian and Paul's loud snoring from the bedroom they shared. They had no idea what time it was, but judging by the darkness of the night and the stillness of the street below, it was deep into the night.

"I'd love to come camping with you; my family never does anything as cool as that! We never go out as a family or have fun. It's all doom and gloom and vampire stuff. I just want to be normal, like your family. Have camping trips, eat normal food, and wear normal clothes."

Robin smiled into the darkness, thinking the exact opposite; Vlad had it all in his eyes.  
"Vlad, trust me. Branaugh holidays are not all 'jolly holiday' like you see in the Brady Bunch. Okay, well they are for my dad, but… they're all hiking and sing-alongs and knot tying and campfires and roasting marshmallows… okay so the last bits' not bad, but there are so many bugs! Everywhere Vlad, it's horrible. Mosquitos, flies, beetles, all sorts flying around in your tent, no matter what you do. Half the time you can't sleep because of them."

Vlad laughed. "Have you or have you not been to the Castle lately? There are just as many bugs up there as there is in the forest! You're having a lucky day when you _don't _find one in your cereal in the morning." He quivered at the thought.

"Point taken." His friend replied, clearly in half a mind as he thought about something else. Vlad noticed this.  
"What's on your mind Robin? You seem distant." He wondered if there were any nasty surprises in store.  
But Robin just laughed. "Nothing really, it's just… you know how you're sleeping in the same clothes you came here in…?" Vlad nodded, then realising he was in the dark said, "Yeah, what about it?" Understanding just before Robin spoke.  
"You don't have any clothes to go camping in mate. You can't wear them the whole time; they'll be filthy by the end of the first day."  
Vlad groaned. "Argh! Why didn't I think of that? What am I going to do now? I can't go back home to get some or my father will feed me to the bats." He covered his face with the pillow he was using.

"Don't worry about it Vlad, you can…" Robin seemed a bit nervous for a moment before clearing his throat and continuing. "…borrow some of mine. I might be a bit taller than you but it's better than wearing my dad's clothes, or Chloe's." He sniggered at what was probably the thought of Vlad in a pink dress and then got hit with the aforementioned pillow.

"Thanks, Robin. As long as you don't mind. Will you have enough? I don't want to be depriving you of clothing." They both laughed.  
"It's fine, really. I'll sort you out in the morning. We probably should be getting some sleep now; dad will be waking us all up early no doubt." He settled down into his bed, Vlad doing the same.

"Yeah, I suppose we better be. Night Robin, thanks for letting me stay on short notice, I don't know what I would have done without you."  
He heard a faint "That's alright…" Before a chorus of snores coming from Robin's bed.  
_Oh great, he's a snorer._  
However, Vlad found himself asleep before he could complain any further about his best friend's snores.

**I hope you're enjoying it so far! Please review :D**


	3. Rogue Hunter

**Hey! I'm sorry this chapter has taken so long to put out, but I just wanted to thank everyone for their kind reviews; I wasn't sure whether I was going to continue with this story but your pushing of my butt helped motivate me to get it out there! I hope I can do it justice :)  
Enjoy and review! :D  
hazeloakleigh.**

**_Chapter 3 – Rogue Hunter_**

The following day dawned just as bright and sunny as the day before. Vlad found Robin was right about his father, who had burst in the room right on 6 o'clock to advise them to get up; then started his rounds on the other children. They could hear him singing that abject song the entire way down the hall.

Vlad turned over in bed and yawned; it was too early to be waking up, even in his keen camping eyes. He looked up at Robin, who was groaning into his pillow about it being still dark, although the summer sun was streaming in through the window annoyingly.

He got up from his makeshift bed on the floor, (which inevitably had been quite comfortable), tidied it up so that you could actually walk across the floor without tripping over, and proceeded to drag Robin out of bed by pulling his blankets off him and hitting him with a pillow.  
"Come on Robin; time to get up for the _Branaugh holiday_." He sung the last part in emphasis of Graham's song.  
Robin flinched at his words and the pillow and stood up trying to hit Vlad back; stumbling over in morning dizziness before catching himself on the wall.  
"Shut up Vlad." He spoke in his morning voice, giving a small smile as the two stumbled down to breakfast.

The morning went by in a blur, with everybody still half asleep as they got the final things ready and packed the car. Elizabeth, Ian and Paul would be staying behind, as they couldn't afford to miss any school; they were doing bad enough as it was. Robin grumbled saying he wasn't doing well at school either, to try and get out of it, but they wouldn't hear a word of it.

By seven o'clock, everything was ready. The car was packed, children fed, the song outsung already. Vlad and Robin had gone through Robin's wardrobe and picked out all the clothes Robin usually wore, and divided them in half, so each had the right amount of clothes with them. Vlad didn't mind wearing Robin's shirts and pants; most of them were fairly normal looking (just black, which he was used to seeing by now with his family and best friend). They found some old shorts of Robins' that he was to use as boxer shorts; because actually wearing his friends' boxers would be a little _too_ awkward for both of them.  
"Thanks mate." Vlad said sincerely when the clothing arrangement had been sorted out and they had packed his half into another carry bag.  
"Just don't wreck them; I really like that black shirt." He turned to leave the room, as his father was impatiently beeping the horn, leaving Vlad to laugh and wonder just which shirt he was talking about.

A two-hour car drive and hour long hike later; they finally reached their camping destination in the middle of the British forest. The camping ground, which Graham had stumbled upon years ago on a hiking trip, was a small green circle patch of grass in the direct centre of the forest. It was almost creepy it being there; as there was no civilization for miles.

"Right." Graham said, when he found suitable soil in the ground for their tents; telling them to pitch them there.  
Now Vlad had never really gone camping before, so he hadn't had any real practise at setting up a tent. He looked at all the pieces warily before attempting to put the poles together, while Robin tried to read the back of the box; although he had been camping many a time with his father he still refused to learn how to pitch a tent.  
Chloe saw they were having trouble and sighed, walking over to them and holding out her hands for the poles. They didn't dispute as they handed them to her, and she set to work assembling their tent in record speed. They watched in awe as she seemed to fly around, not even pausing once.  
"The only other person I've seen move that fast is my dad, but he's not even a vampire." Vlad whispered quietly to Robin, as Graham was only a few metres away whistling to himself as he set up his and Chloe's tent.

"Well that's what you get for being so dedicated to something," Chloe spoke, now finished assembling the boys tent. "You learn about it. Know how to do it." She smiled. "Might want to try it sometime, Robin." She moved back to her father, to help him finish up. Robin merely poked his tongue out at her.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"This is it Jonno!" Eric Van Helsing spoke like a maniac as he shook his son Jonathon's shoulders excitedly from inside the caravan they shared. Jonno however, was less than excited at the tone of voice coming from his father. He knew that whenever his father seemed that excited about something, it couldn't be about anything other than slaying.

The Van Helsing's had been vampire slayers for centuries. Eric had great pride in his family history, and at every available moment would love to inform Jonno of this. Jonno couldn't remember the last time an entire day had gone by when his father hadn't mentioned vampires or slaying or his ancestry and the fact they were apparently _born_ to kill.  
He didn't believe in vampires himself, and this greatly annoyed Eric. He had invested countless hours of his days to teaching him to hunt, track, capture and slay vampires ever since he was old enough to walk and talk. His own wife had run out on him because of his obsession- she had never believed in it either.  
The fact remained that, even though there were a few strange coincidences surrounding the people in Stokely that his father believed were vampires, there was nothing conclusive about the matter.

"What is it dad?" He asked irritably. He had been trying to finish his maths homework before school. Mr. Cleary wasn't a very happy man when you didn't finish your homework on time.  
Eric momentarily came out of his daze, and looked down at his son. "What are you doing that for Jonno?! We have bigger fish to fry- or in this case, vampires to kill- than," he looked at the paper Jonathan was writing on, "long division!" He snatched the pen he was using and threw it to the floor.  
"Dad!" Jonno protested. "Homework is important if I want an education, and you never help me so I have to do it myself when I can." He tried to lean down and pick the pencil up off of the floor, but his father stopped him in his tracks and pinned him against the wall.

"Jonno have you been paying attention to what I've been doing all night? This is my latest breakthrough!" He looked him sternly in the eye as if to intimidate him, but Jonathan had heard about his "latest breakthroughs" nearly every week for the past year since Vlad and his family had come to Stokely, so the affect had worn off completely when he tried to scare him like that.

"I know you didn't go to bed at all last night. What were you doing? Watching the telly? There isn't that much on at three in the morning you know."  
"This isn't about TV! Well it involves a TV, but that's not the point. Look!" He loosened his grip on his son's school blazer and directed his attention to the TV set up in the caravan's kitchen/living room. It was covered with wires and metal parts making it look like a mess, and Jonno wondered just _what _his father had been doing with it all night.  
Then he noticed what was on the screen.

"That's the Draculas living room…" He said in surprise. He recognised it from their many expeditions up to the castle, which almost always resulted in them making a fool of themselves and Eric failing to prove to his son that they were truly vampires. He cringed at the site. If that living room was on his their TV screen it could only mean one thing; another slaying mission.  
Currently the room was empty, only stone walls with candles and drapery here and there could be seen, with a long wooden table running down the middle, and a throne like seat at the head of the room.  
"Why… _how _is it that Vlad's living room is one our television screen all the way down here in the caravan? What have you been doing?!" He was horrified. If anyone found out that his father was… spying on the Dracula's, well he'd have even less friends than he had now, and that was none.  
Mr Van Helsing didn't seem to pick up on his son's tone. "This is my latest creation Jonathan," He began excitedly. "And it's leading us to the biggest vampire slaying this town has ever seen." He turned his attention away from the Dracula's motionless living room and began packing his bag with supplies. Garlic, wooden stakes of various sizes, garlic juice, silver bullet and stake launchers, and a sunlight gun were all placed either into his bag on attached to his body with belts and straps. He thought looked like a warrior.  
Jonno thought he looked mental.

"This town has never seen a vampire slaying dad, probably because there are _no vampires_ to slay. Anyway what's this all about? Why are you spying on the house anyway? What's so exciting about an empty living room?"

"It's exciting for the reason it's empty Jonno! Pay attention and keep with me alright? This is going to be part of your training."  
He ignored his son's sigh and continued.  
"You're not going to school today – no complaining!" He said, when Jonno began to whine.  
"This is important Jonno, stay with me. As I was watching last night while you were snoring in the back room, I noticed the Count in the living room, frantically speaking to that vulgar servant of his. He was saying something about-" He was interrupted by a squeak of protest from Jonno.  
"You _heard_ him saying something?! There's sound on this thing too?" He asked in disbelief. You do realise that is classed as stalking don't you? You could go to prison!"  
Eric rolled his eyes. "Prison is for people who get caught Jonno, and I, Eric Van Helsing, never get caught."  
"Yes you do! What about that time the Principle walked in while you were showing me how to stake through a coffin in the _woodwork_ room? Or that time Ingrid found out you were planning to kill her when she left the school gates and got the local policemen to arrest you for stalking? You're on their watch list in the station you know, I've seen your picture on the walls when we went there with school. And what about the time-"

"Enough!" His father yelled in exasperation. "This isn't like those times son, this is different. It's the one. I can feel it." He spoke in his over exaggerated voice he saved for times like these; when he really believed in his plans. Jonno realised he had no choice but to go along with it, because when his father got in one of these moves, there was no stopping him.  
"Okay, okay I believe you. So what did you hear the Count talking about? The weather? I'm sure their living room conversations really aren't that interesting you know."

"Creatures of the night don't need to talk about the weather Jonno, remember that, it may save your life one day." Jonno was getting used to his fathers crazy talk, but it never made sense to him.  
"Apparently our young Vladimir Dracula has run away from home! Something about the Count being too harsh on him for something… but the details don't matter Jonno! The fact is; Vlad's gone! This is the perfect opportunity!" Jonno remained silent, letting his father complete his story he was so obviously desperate to tell.  
"You see son, it seems as though the Count has done something to make Vlad angry, because he's been looking for him for hours, and doesn't know where he's gone! Meaning the little blood sucker is un-protected without his father!"  
Jonno looked at his own father, still confused about the situation. "Yes, but he doesn't know where he's gone, so that's not really helpful to us is it?"

"Oh no Jonno, you haven't heard the greatest part! The staff was informed last week of Robin and Chloe Branaugh's absence from school most of this week due to some camping trip they were going on with their father. Vlad's only friend is that Robin kid, so I'll bet my garlic gun that's where he's gone; with the Branaugh's camping!" He looked down at his son with sheer glee.  
"It'll be my greatest plan yet! I'll slay Vlad, which will lure the Count to me to seek revenge for his son's death! A two in one deal! Then without her blood sucking family there with her, she'll have no choice but to _beg_ me to kill her! It's going to run perfectly Jonno."

Jonno looked sceptic. "I'm not so sure she'd care actually dad." He knew how much Ingrid despised her family, especially Vlad.  
Eric frowned. "Everyone cares when their family die. Even a heartless vampire. Family's all they've got. Besides, I thought you'd be glad son; we're finally going camping like you always nag me to do. We'll be out with nature and all that other garbage." His mind was too focused on vampires Jonno could tell.  
"I may even let you cook some marshmallows over the fire." He said, knowing it would tempt Jonno even more.  
"Camping instead of school!? That's great! I mean, at least I've got a good reason now." He looked away, embarrassed, and then turned back to his father. "So you know where they've gone then?" He asked.  
"I know they're somewhere around here." He unravelled a map quickly along the table and showed Jonno where he had circled a section of the forest that was a few hours from Stokely. This is where Branaugh family holidays usually take place." Jonno didn't ask how he knew this, only when they were leaving. Maybe he could get his father more interested in the camping side of things on the way there.

Turns out they were leaving right then and there. Eric had thought of everything; packing Jonno's bag overnight, as well as his own, and of course loading the car with as many slaying weapons as it could fit, making the windows look as though they'd smash if even so much as a silver bullet moved out of place.  
Five minutes later they were off, with a thorough plan in place and the bottom of a wooden stake digging into the back of Jonno's head the whole way there.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It was approaching dusk in the forest, when the campers returned from their long "wildlife tour". Graham had taken them on a five hour long hike through the hills and grass lands, over streams and through the trees, to sight see all the native English animals. Vlad had never remembered such a great day; he had heaps of photos of the various creatures on the camera Robin's father had leant him, and had seen more of the outdoors in those five hours than he had in his entire life.

Robin, however, had hated every moment of it.  
"I don't think my legs will ever work again." He'd complained as they returned to the campsite; Graham going to light the fire to start cooking them some dinner.  
"It wasn't that bad Robin." Vlad said, laughing at his best friend when he dove into the tent and onto his side where his mini mattress lay.  
"Your right." Robin's muffled voice came from under the pillow; he was plonked face down on the bed. "This wasn't as bad as last time, where he had us hiking up _mountain sides_ all day. I couldn't walk for months." Vlad knew he was exaggerating, but thought it sounded a bit like fun. He kept his mouth shut about that however, and decided to join him in the tent, Chloe going to help with supervise the cooking; Graham wasn't much of a gourmet chef.

After a dinner of sausages and beans on toast, the three children retreated to the comfort of Vlad and Robin's tent. Chloe was allowed to stay in there as late as she liked, just not sleep, as it wasn't just her brother in the tent now. She had rolled her eyes at this.

"Finally night time!" Robin enthused, sitting on his mattress under a few blankets. Vlad was doing the same, and Chloe sat closer to the doorway. The wind howled outside, so all three being together in the tent meant it was really quite cosy.

"You're just happy because now you can finally wear your pyjamas without looking as weird as during the day." Chloe stated matter-of-factly. Vlad sniggered as he handed around the lollies Chloe had thought to bring with her.  
"And here I was thinking what you wear to school was weird enough." He gave Robin a playful pat on the shoulders.  
Robin played with his hand sown on cape carefully. "Shut up." He said, glaring at the two. Vlad decided it was best to comply, he knew how much teasing he got for wearing a cape over his school uniform, he didn't need his friends making fun of his black and red pyjamas with a sown on cape to add to it.

"So what do you two want to do tonight?" He asked casually, placing more sugar coated confectionary in his mouth. _Oh if only dad could see me now._  
Before Chloe could speak, Robin literally began to bounce where he was sitting. "Truth or Dare! I haven't played that game in years!" His face lit up in _that grin_ he always got when he was overly excited about something.

Vlad smiled; he'd never played truth or dare before. He'd heard of it of course, but had never really had anyone to play it with.  
Despite herself, Chloe smiled too; she guessed there was no better time than then to play a game like that.  
"Alright then, truth or dare it is." She looked around the group, torch in hand. "So who wants to ask the first truth or give the first dare?"

Robin was beside himself.  
"Oh that's easy! I dare Vlad to bite me!"

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**_There! I hope this chapter has sufficiently filled you for the time being, and that I didn't disappoint =] I'm in the middle of working on chapter 4, so PLEASE, if you liked it [or hated it] let me know! I'd love to hear your feedback and get motivated for the next chapter! =D  
hazeloakleigh_**


	4. The Bite

**_You are allowed to shoot me for the delay! [If anyone actually cares, that is xD] I've got a base storyline planned out for this story now, which is exciting! Hopefully next chapter will be updated quicker!  
Things are starting to heat up!_**

Enjoy and review =]

**Chapter 4-  
**_**  
**__Time Lapse- The Night Before: Castle Dracula._

"WHERE IS HE!?" The Count's voice boomed across the castles stone walls, and echoed down every corridor. He was clearly livid, but there was also a strange note of worry mingled in with it.  
"If I may master…" Renfield interrupted the Count's bellowing of profanities and curses to attempt to soothe his master's worrying.  
"Perhaps young Vladimir has gone to visit master Robin and simply forgotten the time?" he suggested. "You know how young boys are these days-"

The Count's hand slammed onto the table, stopping Renfield in his tracks. "Do you think I haven't looked there!? It's the first place I flew to when I realised he was gone! That infernal breather -what's her name- _Mrs Branaugh_," He emphasised in disgust. "She said Robin had gone _camping_. Of all the… Well it doesn't matter. Robin's camping so I don't know where to look for Vladdie now; he could have gone anywhere! Do you think maybe he's got himself a nice vampire girlfriend and they're off canoodling somewhere behind my back? That sly dog…" Renfield looked wary but said nothing.

As if on cue, the stone archway to the living room overshadowed, revealing an incredulous looking Ingrid.  
"Did I hear you correctly? Breather boy's actually run away? Wow, he's acting like somewhat of a rebel for once in his life." She picked up an cockroach from the bowl and inspected it carefully, mostly to avoid her father's gaze, which would give her away instantly.  
Of course she knew where Vlad was; but this was her chance to get what she wanted and it wasn't about to be taken away from her by her snivelling brother yet again.

"He HASN'T run away! We think he's just with his girlfriend and forgot the time; he'll be home any minute now!" The Count looked as though he were trying to convince himself rather than his daughter.  
"Vlad? A girlfriend? Don't make me laugh. The only girlfriend he has is Robin, and according to you he's camping." She paused. This was the only chance.  
"But seeing as little goody two shoes has run away, I think it's time for a punishment don't you?" She continued without hesitation, ignoring the Counts second glance.

"How about a room swap? These bedroom allocations are positively ridiculous, and I am _older_, better looking, and have more right to the throne than he does, so it's only fair that _I get the larger room._" She put her best pleading face that she only reserved for times like these.  
"I'm even willing to move all Vlad's things for him, free of charge. It's the least I can do." She smirked to herself. Her version of _moving things_ was to throw all his possessions out the tower window and onto the hard ground below. No use packing them into _boxes_; it was more amusing this way.

It was the Count's turn to smirk this time, which for a moment, confused Ingrid.  
"Ingrid, Ingrid, Ingrid. How many times does it have to be drummed into your non-existent brain? _You are a girl._ You don't get a say in the running of this house hold _or_ have any right to the throne. Vladdie will always be my son and heir." Ingrid scowled.

"And besides, I'm proud of him! I didn't start defying my parents until I was 16; bit of a late bloomer. It's excellent to see my boy finally acting like the true vampire he is. I just want him home now, god only knows what could happen to a young and inexperienced vampire in this day and age."

Ingrid's face flew up with rage, which she (somehow) managed to keep under control. This was no time to be flying at her father when she could very well get her revenge on Vlad himself.

She feigned beginning to walk away, and just as she reached the stairs, turned to her father.  
"If you're really looking for him, try the Moonspell forest a few hours from here. That's where his stupid friends will be camping."  
The Count looked victorious. "Of course! Vlad would be in the forest camping with his breather friend! What a silly pastime. But never mind that, we shall go and track him down. Renfield, get my coat and umbrella. Oh the cleverness of I!"  
Ingrid looked at him in disgust.  
"Sit on a stake." Were her parting words as she stormed upstairs and into her bedroom.

"Here we are master." Renfield had returned with the Count's long leather jacket, large black umbrella and dark sunglasses.  
"To the hearse!" His master shouted fiercely, leading the way out the door and into the family's 'car'.  
As the Renfield drove the hearse down the steep path toward the centre of Stokely, the Count's voice rang strong.  
"I will find you Vladimir, even if it's the last thing I do in my very existence."

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_Normal Time.  
_  
"Bite you!?" Vlad's voice came out shakily and his eyes bugged out at Robin in the semi dark. He could see his breath drifting out like smoke wisps through the torch lit air; it had gotten a lot colder very quickly. He snuggled underneath the blanket he was using and tried to keep warm.

Chloe sighed. "Robin, once again, don't be ridiculous. Firstly, Vlad hasn't got his full fangs yet. Secondly, it's too dangerous. He could end up killing you or changing you because you really don't know what could happen regardless of the fact he hasn't got his full fangs. And that wouldn't be good for anyone."  
He was about to argue when she interrupted him again, with a stern look. "Do you think dad won't notice you burning in the sun the entire time we're hiking or knot tying or eating breakfast?"  
"Or the fact that you're suddenly ten shades paler and have developed a preference for raw steaks?" Vlad added, trying to assist Chloe in persuading Robin against his suggestion. He wasn't sure whether he _liked_ the idea, or was completely against it, and that scared him the most.  
Robin's shoulders slumped. He'd thought maybe _something_ good would have come out of inviting Vlad along on their family's escapade.

Vlad sighed. "Robin, we've been over this before. I'm _not_ going to try and change you. One, as Chloe said, it's too dangerous. Two, even if for some crazy reason it did work, you _don't_ want to be a vampire. Believe me."  
Chloe gave a half smile. "Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that."  
Robin said nothing, merely tried to hide his disappointment. He knew it could never happen. _What was he thinking even bothering to ask?_

Seeing the awkward tension building in the tent, Chloe offered round some lolly snakes, and asked if anyone had any truths for her, seeing as the dares were obviously going to be dangerous or just plain stupid.

By the end of the game two hours later, the trio had ascertained that when Mr Van Helsing and his son had first come to Stokely Grammar, Chloe had had a little bit of a crush on Jonathan, that Vlad was secretly afraid of the dark and still slept with Mr. Cuddles, [which Robin already knew, but like a loyal friend pretended he didn't] and that Robin, even though he put up his 'dark and morbid' persona, still listened to old Hanson tapes occasionally when nobody else was home.

Once everyone had been sufficiently embarrassed, Chloe announced it was time for her to go to bed. After a long game, she was sleepy and realised it would be another tiresome day in the morning. The boys bade her a quick goodnight, and she left them for her tent with Graham, who they could hear snoring loudly across the campsite.

With Chloe went the torch, and so the pair were plunged into complete darkness inside the tent. From where they sat, each under their blankets on either side of the two man tent, they could hear the snoring of Robin's father, and the shuffling of blankets as Chloe got settled into her bed also. No other sounds except for an owl hooting in the distance could be heard.

The silence was starting to creep Vlad out just a little. He snuggled right down into his blankets, and turned to Robin, who he knew was in arms length of him.  
"So… know any scary stories?" He tried, wanting to hear another voice other than his own in the gloom.  
Robin snorted and spoke in a surprisingly irritated way. "I don't know sorry Vlad, I'm just Robin the weird kid who everybody just laughs at, why would I know any scary stories?" His voice sounded muffled, as though he was facing the other way and had his face buried in the pillow.  
Vlad was confused.

"What? No you're not Robin! Where's all this coming from?" He leaned up on one elbow and let his eyes adjust to the darkness. He was right; he was facing the other way and his face was mashed into his black and red pillow fiercely. Vlad couldn't understand what had gotten into him.  
He saw Robin lift his head, and noticed how he rubbed at his eyes before he spoke.

"It's just… everyone's got their place. Everyone has their thing. You've got being a vampire, Chloe's a child prodigy and can do basically whatever she wants, Ian and Paul have their sports, hell, even dad's a plumber. Jonno and Van Helsing, well their slayers, but it's still their _thing_, you know? I don't feel like I'm apart of anything, and everybody is just going to slip me by and move on with their lives with their things and I'll just be the freak who wears a cape." His voice was cracking, Vlad could tell.

Vlad saw his breath flow from his mouth as he spoke, mingling with the air of the tent; it really _was_ cold that night.  
"My thing? Being a vampire isn't my _thing._ It's a huge inconvenience that will probably ruin a lot of my experiences later in life. It's a hassle everyday just _knowing_ I'll become a vampire, the fact that my father and sister are _already_ is also a huge problem. Trust me when I tell you, I would never leave you Robin, you're my best mate. Besides, I have nothing to move onto except eternal darkness, and I don't see the benefits in that, even if your-"

He was going to say _warped mind_ but thought that could offend Robin even further. "-you think it sounds cool. As for your dad, spending your working hours with your head stuck down a toilet or crawling amongst the sewers doesn't sound very appealing to me." He tried to laugh, to lighten the mood. It worked, and Robin gave a small chuckle from the depths of the pillows fibres.

"Chloe will always be Chloe. She'll probably just go to University and get some boring scientific job like everyone else with an above average IQ. But not _everyone_ does that. Not _everyone _has to go to Uni or unblock toilets or throw a ball around a patch of grass to be special. You're talented in your own way. What about your art? You can draw brilliantly! And I have _never_ seen a better chess player than you. Not even my dad, and he was one of the champions back in the day."

This was one of the longest and more 'emotional' speeches Vlad had ever given. And to anyone other than Robin, he would have felt embarrassed. Instead, he realised how humbling it was to have a friend like Robin. He was always there for him, and genuinely didn't _care_ about how freaky his life was. He was _interested._ He always stuck up for him, was fun, and a great mate. He was beginning to also realise just how _much_ he liked him.

Something he'd never let himself even linger on for longer than a second came creeping back into the front of Vlad's mind. Those niggling _feelings_ that never seemed to leave him. He knew they were wrong. He knew they weren't reciprocated, however they were there, whether he liked it or not.  
Usually he was good at covering up his emotions, but the sadness that had just poured out of Robin had had an effect on him he couldn't explain.  
A deep compassion that, when combined with these mildly homosexual feelings, produced a tingle down Vlad's spine.

What was happeningto him? All of a sudden he felt as though he wanted to _kiss_ him. He shuddered and attempted to push these thoughts from his mind. Robin was his friend. He wasn't about to destroy that with unnecessary feelings that would probably just be stupid vampire hormones. He'd read enough Anne Rice books and known countless vampires back in Transylvania that were evidence enough of the "vampires are sexual beings" rule being a fact.

Vlad heard Robin shift around in his bed and saw him pull his head up from his pillow to look at him. The evidence of his crying was all over his face. _This really must get to him.  
_"Thanks mate, that... means a lot." Robin appeared embarrassed, and hurriedly wiped the tears from his glowing face.

"Did this all come from me not wanting to bite you?" Vlad asked tentively, not wanting to upset Robin further.  
"Well yeah... it just reminded me of the power everyone around me seems to have over things. The fact that I'm in the middle of it with nothing to contribute just makes me feel like crap sometimes. This sounds so emo." He laughed it off, using the stupid insult the kids at school had taken to using on him when the word had become popular a few years back.

"No, it doesn't. But if it makes you feel any better..." Vlad felt himself go bright red.

"I know that I don't have enough of my powers yet to actually _change_ you... probably just leave a little mark. I don't even really have fangs properly yet." Well that was half a lie, he could feel his fangs getting longer and more pronounced by the day, however he was willing to risk everything if he could make Robin happy again.

Robin was beside himself with excitement, and before Vlad could actually even say what he was offering, he literally jumped up in bed, a huge grin on his pale face.  
"Would you really Vlad?! It'd just be like getting bitten by a _full_ vampire, without the changing bit!" He even yanked down the top of his pyjama shirt, to show the bare skin on his neck so pale that it seemed to taunt Vlad in the moonlight.

Vlad suddenly grew nervous. _Was this the right thing to do?_ Should he be risking his friends, and possibly his own life to make Robin feel better about himself?  
Or was the niggling feeling making its way down to his stomach more of a reason than anything to freak out? He didn't know what to think.

"Uh- sure. I mean, nothings going to happen. It'll be over really quick and then nobody will have to know. It may even be fun."  
Robin grinned. "Of course it will be fun! Now where do you want me?" He shuffled over towards Vlad side of the tent, and the close proximity in which the pair were in, along with Robin's evident enthusiasm only made Vlad all the more nervous.  
"Um... here is fine." His voice shook. He could feel Robin on his mattress now, his body pressed lightly to his own. Was he imagining it, or did Robin appear to be breathing heavier?

"Go on then! Go ahead. Bite me." Vlad might have laughed if this was any other situation, but he was busy worrying about how his breath smelt and if he was wearing deodorant and just _how _was he going to bite him without hurting him?  
It felt almost like first date jitters (he imagined so anyway), minus the biting.

Vlad took it slow, trying to find a good place to rest his hands on Robin to get a good grip without hurting the boy or making it feel too sexual. _This is not supposed to be sexual_ he reminded himself firmly.

He lay his hands on Robin's shoulders, one slightly more on his chest, and turned his best friends keen face and penetrating stare away from his own with his mouth, which was now slightly outstretched to loosen the jaw and release what little 'fangs' he did have.

Prior to sinking his fangs into the soft flesh before him, Vlad felt a wave of nausea, so nervous was he that his hands shook on Robin's body.  
"T-tell me if I'm hurting you okay? I'll stop straight away if I am."  
Robin snorted. "'kay fine, the safe word is 'poodle'." He taunted. "Hurry up Vlad, if you don't bite soon it'll be morning!"

Vlad ignored his comments and, if possible, stretched his mouth even wider, and felt his mouth come into contact with Robin's pale neck. A shudder from beneath his arms signalled the contact was just as real for Robin, who clutched Vlad with a tightening grip, as he continued to 'bite'. He could feel the veins protruding the skin, and had the overwhelming urge to break the skin and feed. He was disgusted with himself in the back of his mind, and had enough strength to fight it off, but it was definitely there.

Robin however, was feeling nothing of disgust or remorse, only excitement and pleasure. He'd often wondered what it would feel like to be bitten by a vampire, a thought mainly kept to himself and his many diary entries. He thought this must be pretty close to the full experience, but could tell Vlad was holding out on him. It felt amazing though, as if he was being touched sexually, yet on his neck. He'd never admit that to Vlad however, he knew it wasn't a good thing to say to his best mate.  
A soft whimper escaped his lips as the final and most fierce contraction of the vampires mouth wrapped around his neck ceased, and Vlad's hands loosened their grip on the other boy, before sitting back.

An awkward silence ensued, as the pair couldn't look at each other whilst quietly returning to their own sleeping bags. It was only until Robin couldn't fight off the urge to cough any longer that they finally spoke.

"So uh... how was it for you?" Vlad asked anxiously, worrying if that final whimper was in pain or annoyance.

Robin stared across the tent at his friend, making Vlad feel all the more apprehensive about his biting abilities. Because sure, he was a vampire, but a vampires bite usually wasn't meant for merely an example of what it feels like to be bitten, but to kill and feed and move on. What it feels like to a breather is absolutely out of the question in vampire lore, as long as it causes them as much pain as possible.

There was another elongated pause, and Vlad's impatient and tense "Well?!" Before Robin broke out into a grin.  
"Oh it was great Vlad! Just like the real thing too I bet, did you break the skin or what? I wish you'd actually change me." He bought his hand up to his neck and began feeling for a bite mark, of which there was none, as Vlad hadn't actually broken the skin.

Vlad didn't want to let on how he almost _had_ changed him, so he altered the line of conversation slightly. "Well now you know what it feels like, you won't need to ask me to bite you anymore." He tried to ignore the pained expression that crossed Robin's face at his words.

"You know I'll never stop asking, Vlad." Robins' voice whispered softly across the tent, "When you're finally sixteen and become a full vampire, I'll still be here, waiting. You know I will."

Vlad winced. He wanted so much to give Robin what he wanted, whenever he wanted. He wished it was easy to just go "Hey presto!" and change Robin into the bloodsucking monster he so longed to be. But things in life were never that simple, and he knew the consequences of said action. He knew it could never be.

Instead he replied with. "Well, that's what you get for now, mate. But right now, I want to focus on being a _normal kid_ while I still can. So I think we should get some sleep; we probably have another hike tomorrow."  
He wasn't tired, but needed the topic of conversation to cease immediately before things got out of hand; he hated talking about the future.

To aide his contentment, Robin was already yawning, and looking as though he was about to nod off at any moment. "Yeah... you're probably right..." He mumbled.  
"Thanks for everything Vlad...."  
A procession of snores quickly followed suit.

Vlad sighed. At least Robin was asleep now, and he could keep to his confused thoughts in peace. He turned over in his sleeping bag to try and drown out the noises that would make a vacuum cleaner proud. He wondered whether he'd done the right thing, giving into Robin like that. He wondered why he was making such a big deal out of it; technically he'd only really _kissed _his neck after all. The thought made his cheeks burn.

_I did it to make my best mate happy, that's all. Nothing bad will come from it, and there was nothing in it for me._If only his body were able to agree.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Waking the next morning was a good thing, Vlad told himself as he hurriedly dressed whilst Graham called them out for breakfast.  
He'd had a horrible night's sleep; if you could call it sleep.  
After a few very long hours of lying wide awake next to _Captain Snooze_, contemplating what he'd just done and imagining all sorts of crazy things, he'd fallen into an uneasy sleep where his dreams continued to be just as crazy and taunting.

They'd been at school, in the boys toilets that were that awful shade of green. Robin was sitting on the sinks, crying out to him that he didn't belong anywhere, that he was alone.  
Vlad had been trying to tell him he wasn't, and that he'd always be here for him. But Robin would have none of that.

"No you won't! As soon as you're sixteen you'll change, you wont want to see me anymore, I'll be an annoying _breather_ that you don't want to turn, that you wont want to see." Before Vlad had had a chance to reply, Robin had proceeded to try and drown himself in a sink full of water, and then turn into a bat and fly out of the bathroom window. That was his dad's trick, Vlad had thought. What was going on?  
He'd just put it down to a messed up nightmare resulting from a stressful night before, but upon awakening, he'd noticed Robin seemed on edge while still half asleep also. He said nothing.

"Morning there lads! Have a nice sleep did we? All refreshed for the new day?" Mr Branaugh sounded just _too_ enthusiastic as usual as he loaded up the boys' plates with fried eggs and bacon, toast, and a brown looking sloppy liquid that suspiciously enough didn't smell quite like soup at all.  
He pottered around the campsite, just as Chloe came back from an early morning walk. She'd already eaten about two hours earlier.

"You two really need to get used to the outdoors a bit more you know, look at you both."  
She was talking about the palpable grogginess of the pair, who sat still half asleep attempting to eat eggs with the right ends of their forks. Neither had spoken to the other since last night; Vlad hoped Robin wasn't having second thoughts.

When neither answered, Chloe smirked ever so slightly.  
"You also better cover that up before dad notices; it's really quite obvious." She sat down to retie her shoe lace just as the boy's heads both shot up in unison at her words.

Robin looked like he was about to be sick.  
"What're you talking about? Cover what?" He said, speaking for the first time that morning. He pretended to be oblivious to what she was talking about, however both she and Vlad could see through it. Especially when he raised his hand to his neck self consciously and played with his collar.

Chloe smiled.  
"Just what did you two get up after I left last night?" She asked in her calm voice. Waiting until her father was back inside his tent and out of earshot, she looked straight at Vlad who was gaping in horror at the bright red hickey like mark on Robin's neck and said: "You did it didn't you? You tried to bite him." She was appalled.

Vlad was on the defensive straight away. "No! I told you I wouldn't! It must just be an... ant bite... or something like that." He blushed furiously and looked away.

Robin gave up, he knew when his sister saw right through their lies, and this was one of those times.  
"'kay, he did. Vlad bit me, you happy? Nothing awful happened, so put a sock in it Chloe. It was a one off, and it was perfectly safe."

His sister looked at Vlad in annoyance.  
"No I'm not happy! I thought we agreed it was best not to? Do you know what could have happened Vlad? Do you know what kind of danger you put yourselves in? All for a _hickey?_!" Both boys cringed at her choice of wording.  
Neither dared speak as she began to compose herself again. It wasn't like Chloe to blow up like that, especially at Vlad and Robin.  
"Right, that's over with now, so I guess we better get it cleaned up and covered until it heals or we'll have dad asking some very gauche questions."

The three waited for Graham to return from the depths of his tent and announce he was just 'popping to the loo' before they made a mad dash to Chloe's part of the tent. It was there she rubbed a large amount of a tinted sunscreen onto the section of Robin's neck, and successfully covered up most of the redness.

"Just remember," she reinforced to Vlad and Robin as they left the tent when they heard Graham's whistling return, "if he asks what's wrong with your neck, you got bitten by an ant, that's all."

"Remembered." The two chorused, meeting each others eyes with a nervous gaze.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Miles away at the edge of the forest, a figure was hovering at the side door of a large dark hearse, carrying a black umbrella in hand. He opened the door to the hearse, and out stepped an angry father, concealed within a long, dark leather jacket, tight leather pants, a broad brimmed black hat, and a pair of sunglasses upon his pale and pointed face. He immediately adjusted his position so that he was completely covered by the umbrella, and gave a forbidding smile.

"I'm here to get you Vladdy," The Count whispered in his dramatic voice, "whether you like it or not."

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile at the opposite end of the forest, two dark figures armed with wooden stakes exited a car and made their way into the dense undergrowth...


	5. Battle

**A/N: Finally another chapter! =] But with this one having a word count of over 4000, which is more than some entire stories on here, I'm sure you can cut me some slack :) This chapter is the lead up to the main bulk of the plot idea, so I hope this excites someone other than me XD.**

**Please enjoy and review! :D**

**PS: For the subscribers to this story; sorry about all the emails, I had more than a few problems uploading this chapter correctly, so hopefully it's up right now!**

**-Sam  
xoxo**

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Chapter Five- Battle  
**  
Twigs and branches snapped beneath their feet.

The Count tripped and stumbled his way through the forest floor, more than once landing on a fallen log or ant hill. His face and hands were now covered with dirt, his leather pants torn, and his hair array with many different types of leaves and stems.

After the tenth fall, The Count had finally reached the end of his tether.  
"I'm going to need a new jacket after this, Renfield!" He complained loudly. "Why don't you lay on the ground wherever I have to step so that I don't trip?!"

His uneasy looking servant answered quietly;  
"Because I need to hold the umbrella so you don't smoulder in the sun, Master?"

He knew he'd gone too far when The Count ever so slightly tilted his glasses down on his nose to get a look at him and glowered, before rapping him over the back of the head with a gloved hand.

"Sorry Master!" Was Renfield's immediate response to the punishment; cowering over in reflex.

"You know, you might have a point there." The Count pondered as an after thought to Renfield's earlier statement, before reaching down and pulling the smelly servant up.  
"Come _on_ you miserable sack of rotting dirt, my keen and impressive hunting sense is just getting to work! We shall have Vlad by the end of the day, and then he'll have me to answer to, the torrent. Onward!" He commanded, pointing through a gap in the trees in a westerly direction.

Renfield merely obeyed and began clearing a path as he walked for his Master to walk through.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Tell me again _why_ we need more slaying gear than clothing for this trip?" Jonathan Van Helsing complained, as he and his father made several trips to the car and back to the camp site with arms full of bags containing various slaying weapons that were combination locked. They were heavy enough as it was, but adding another ten pounds with the military style locks on each bag was ridiculous in Jonno's point of view.

Eric charged ahead, carrying five bags at once, labelled "Top Security" as they contained what he called the most 'powerful and dangerous' weapons of them all: the silver bullet guns, garlic juicer, and the wooden stake that he had spent hours upon hours sanding down to a fine point the previous night.

"Because, Jonno, this is our _mission,_ our _goal_. If we get weighed down with unnecessary items like _clothing_ and _tents_, we'd have no room to spread out, to conquer! This is it Jonno, this is the big one."  
He began unpacking their gear, assorting the weapons in a line according to accuracy, size, type and alphabetical order. Jonno merely rolled his eyes and stood against a tree, rethinking what his father had said. Then it sunk in.  
He started with a jump of panic.

"Tents?! You didn't pack us a tent?! Where are we supposed to sleep? We'll freeze to death out here!" He protested, eyes bulging. Even for his mental dad, this was going too far.

Eric laughed in his knowing way and spoke without so much as a backward glance at his son.  
"These things aren't important Jonno, believe me. This will make me a legend in the slaying community. I will be hailed above all slayers; I got the big one, the legend that is Count Dracula. A bit of crisp air won't do us any harm! Besides," He added smartly, finally turning to smile at his son in that menacingly excited way of his.  
"This is all part of your training. All good slayers can withstand any weather conditions for as long as required. And if you don't want to go to the Academy, I'd be quiet if I were you; this is a lot more lenient than they would be there, believe me."

Jonno stared bug eyed at his father, not daring to say anything. That was probably the only somewhat truthful thing in his eyes his father had said all day.

He'd had the "academy" threat pulled out on him before, and there was _**no way**_ in the world he wanted to go there.

Sixteen hour days of solid slaying training every day. No normal subjects like science or maths, just anything and everything that was relevant to slaying.

The only subject that sounded somewhat passable in Jonno's eyes was the equivalent of Home Economics, also known as "Food Partition Skills."  
Basically they got to cook up a new dish each lesson and learn how to spike it with some form of garlic, whether it be fresh, minced, or liquefied.  
Then they got to eat each others dishes in an attempt to determine what form of garlic it was.

Not that it made up for actually having to be there.

He'd heard students had to sleep on beds of hard nails and rocks to keep them in shape, and the headmaster, a distant relative of Eric's, Adrian Van Helsing, was the strictest teacher around, not letting anybody go to the toilet during their six hour "Vampire Watch Techniques" class.

Although mentioning Adrian more than a passing comment was enough to set his father off; Adrian hadn't spoken to his relative in many, many years, due to the fact that Eric was considered a "disgrace" to the name of slayers in the slaying community. He merely mentioned him as a great teacher and slayer himself, and then all other conversation about him was forbidden.

"Fine, I call the backseat then." Jonno grumbled, opening the back door of the car and analysing just how much room he was going to have, if any.

"Don't worry too much Jonathan, with any luck, we'll have the little fiend by nightfall and we won't even need to sleep here. It's all in the skill."

Jonno was pissed off to say the least, but decided not to argue. He didn't know why he'd gotten his hopes up for a proper camping trip anyway.

"Right Jonno, I've got your pack loaded up. Let's get to it."

He passed a heavy looking backpack to his son, and body straps lined with silver bullets and various stakes of all sizes before donning his own.  
There was that unmistakable gleam in his eye that meant he would not be deterred. Jonno sighed, put the pack on, and followed his father into the depths of the forest.

He was in for one long day.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After another long round of hiking, bird watching, mountain climbing and river hopping, Vlad and the Branaugh's made it back to camp just after three o'clock. Robin and Vlad were fairly exhausted to say the least, and plopped themselves down in their tent as soon as they arrived back. Chloe stayed out to help her father relight the camp fire.

"So about last night..." Robin's muffled voice came from his pillow, as he tried to steady his heartbeat and puffing from the long trip they had just been on.

Vlad thought if his cheeks burnt anymore this week, he would surely get a hole in one of them. "Don't mention it. I'm glad to help you out Robin, you're my best mate."

Robin looked over at Vlad from his side of the tent. He could tell from the boy's droopy eyes he felt just as tired as he. "You're my best mate too, Vlad. Well, you're my only mate, but if I had more you'd still be the best." Vlad laughed.

"I wonder what's for dinner, I hope we hav-..." Robin started. But what he hoped to have, Vlad never heard, as his friend had dropped off to sleep with a wilt of his eyes.  
It wasn't long before he himself was also dead to the world, and he found himself having yet another Robin-related dream.

_The walls of the Dracula household were lined with red; this was the celebratory material that was a sacred tradition within the family.  
As Vlad ran down the long stone hallway, he pondered the fact that none of this had been done when his sister had turned sixteen; had become of age.  
He almost felt sorry for her; she had actually been looking forward to it.  
_

_"You can't escape your destiny boy; it's in your blood!" The Count's voice boomed down the hall. "Oh, my little Vladdie is finally growing up, he's going to take some responsibility and become the vampire he truly is!"_

_As he ran, the walls seemed to become more and more narrow, as if they were closing in on him, suffocating his mind. "No! No! I won't do it!"He continued to run; the hall seemed never ending. At a sudden corner, he spotted Robin. He was crying in anguish._

_"Don't leave me Vlad, don't do it! We'll run away! I'll be alone again like before you got here! Don't leave me!"_

_Vlad found himself unable to speak. Not from emotion, but the physical inability to pursue the action. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out, not even a breath.  
"I knew you'd leave me in the end Vlad, I knew it!" Robin griped, almost hysterical now. "You can't let your dad control you like this!"_

_Again, the inability to speak made for a very frustrating moment. Vlad wanted to tell Robin just how happy he'd be to stay here with him, and **not** become a vampire. To live a normal life and go to school and hang out with him and watch videos and eat junk. But he couldn't communicate this to Robin._

_Before he knew what was happening, the pair were being hit from all different directions with soft, small balls of something in a deep red colour. Closer inspection revealed they were in fact red grapes, being thrown at the two from nowhere in particular.  
Vlad watched as Robin cringed when one got him straight in the eye, but he kept up his guard. "Don't leave me Vlad, don't..."_

_His voice began to fade, as did the house around him. Everything began to get foggy, and Robin slowly disappeared from view. Vlad reached out for him, but in that second, the whole place was turned white, and he felt himself slipping away, falling down._

And then he awoke on the cold hard tent floor moments later, wondering why on earth he'd had such a dream, and hearing the sounds of Robin's father calling them for dinner.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Come on boys, you were starving before, eat up." Mr Branaugh looked at his son and his best friend in concern; neither of the two had showed any interest in food since they woke.

Vlad's mind was elsewhere; he couldn't stop thinking about the strange dream he'd had.

Robin was surprisingly unresponsive also, which Vlad put down to exhaustion and probable embarrassment at what had happened the night before.

The 'dinner' Graham had set in front of them was a bean and bread mix, followed by dessert.  
Upon seeing the contents of the bowls of dessert put in front of them, Vlad flinched.  
Grapes.

He noticed Robin also flinched at the site of the fruit. This puzzled him greatly.

What was wrong?

Graham was busying himself with tidying up the campsite and consequently noticed nothing, however Chloe gave Vlad a strange look as he and Robin picked at their red grapes with distaste. Vlad knew why _he_ couldn't look at them, but found the fact that Robin also didn't seem to want to eat them when he usually gladly wolfed down everything that was – and wasn't – edible. Again, he put this down to exhaustion; it could sometimes make you lose your appetite. Although he'd eaten dinner perfectly happily before...

He had no time to ponder on the thought any longer, as Graham got up from behind his tent and forced the boys out of their seats.  
"Right then boys, it's getting on dusk! You go off for one last walk now with Chloe, there's a good lad- or lads should I say."  
He laughed at his own cringe inducing joke and patted Vlad and Robin on the back, sending them in the direction of a rather dark clump of trees over to the east.

It hadn't been two minutes of walking when Robin was already complaining of sore feet and wanting to go back to the campsite. This was the first time Vlad had heard him speak since they'd woken up; and he was glad to see he was relatively back to his old Robin self again.

Chloe sighed. "Robin, you'll live. The tribes in Ethiopia walk for _miles_ each day for food and water, and they don't even have _shoes._" She said matter-of-factly, amazed at her brothers pain threshold.  
Robin was retorting with a lame comeback that had something to do with the fact that people just shouldn't live in Ethiopia to start with, when Vlad heard a noise in the near distance.

"Shut-up you two!" He snapped, causing the siblings to halt their bickering and stare.  
"I thought I heard something. Can you hear that noise?" He asked anxiously, wondering if he was going mad. He'd definitely heard a crunch of what could have been footsteps.

The Branaugh children looked at him warily. "It was probably just an animal, Vlad..." Robin said quietly; although he looked scared.  
Chloe nodded in agreement, but when they heard the telltale sound of a twig snapping nearby, the three of them jumped a mile.

"Come on... it's getting dark, let's get back to camp." Robin stuttered, obviously cursing himself for acting so childish to a noise that could have been anything.  
"Right." Vlad agreed, and went to turn back around in the direction before an ear-piercing scream from behind made him retreat, only to get pulled by his collar downwards to the ground by a frantic Chloe, screaming his name.

A wooden stake went soaring through the air above their heads, and landed straight into a tree directly behind where they were squatting. Vlad could see Robin's pale face looking scared, his eyes wide and staring. Chloe was looking in the direction of the bushes in front of them, where the stake had seemingly come from.  
"Vlad..." She whimpered quietly, grabbing his arm and motioning in that direction.

Vlad turned and was greeted by the very last people he wanted to meet out in the forest when he was unarmed and virtually alone; Eric and Jonno Van Helsing.

Vlad grabbed onto his best friend and sister and slowly, whilst maintaining eye contact with the Van Helsing's at all times, stood up and backed away.

Eric came through the bushes, followed closely by his son, who didn't look as though he really wanted to be there. As his father stepped into the slight daylight that was left, the children got their first look at Van Helsing's gear, and the full extent of what they were facing.

He was dressed head to toe in army camouflage gear; a black beanie on his head, and two black streaks of what looked like some form of grease on either cheek.  
Straps of silver bullets and stakes were lining his body, and the garlic juice gun was over one shoulder. His son was dressed quite similarly, although minus the juice gun.  
Eric's fierce stare was enough to let them know just how much he meant business.

The three retreated backward slowly, as he smiled maliciously and followed gradually, silently daring them to run.

"You can't hide, Vladimir." Rang out his cold voice, staring straight at him with one hand wrapped around a stake.  
"You can't run... you can't hide. You can merely stand their like the pathetic little vicious blood sucking fiend you are and quiver. Why not give yourself up now, Vlad? Make it easier for yourself? Then I won't have to kill the Branaugh's here." He laughed a high, cruel laugh, and his son cringed.

"You're insane." Was all that Vlad could say, praying to god that Jonno still didn't believe his fathers words. The three of them were still slowly moving backwards, connected with the link of their hands gripping each others arms.

Jonno looked as though he wanted to agree, but said nothing as he looked at his father who's eyes were gleaming with excitement.

"Am I Vlad? Am I really? Maybe it's you that's insane, daring to insult the world's greatest slayer?" Vlad didn't laugh, merely thought back to his fathers vampire training that now seemed so long ago. If he could just _outsmart_ Van Helsing, they might just be in for a chance.

When nobody replied to Eric's self adoration statement, he shook his head and got into his "battle stance". Jonno recognised this at once, and inwardly cringed on how ridiculous his father looked, one leg in front of the other and hands on hips, still clutching his beloved stake.

Vlad, Robin and Chloe exchanged quick glances, knowing this was their only chance of escape. Without moving so much as an inch apart from their eyes, they silently agreed on the direction of the nearest lake, which was murky and brown, but still had a chance of saving them.

"Goodbye, Vlad. I'll be sure to say hello to your father for you, seeing as you won't be seeing him any longer. Maybe he'll join you in hell soon though, when I've finished with him." His teeth gleamed through his vicious glare.

Before another word could be said, a flash of movement was seen, then a string of silver bullets came flying out and over toward where they stood.  
It was within another flash of Vlad's ever improving reflexes, that he seized the back of the jumpers Chloe and Robin were wearing, and began to run, and run fast, toward the direction of the lake.  
He was surprised to find they could keep up with his gait; he may not be his father but his speed had dramatically improved over the past year.  
Panting as they were, they kept up, Vlad's senses helping them dodge the stream of bullets and stakes that were being pelted their way. Heavy and fast footsteps from behind let them know they were being closely followed.

"On the count of three, we halt." Vlad instructed his friends, heading in the direction of the mini jetty that lead part way over the lake. As they approached, Van Helsing's steps thundered onto the loose nails and splintered boards. It was now or never.

"One."  
They got a quarter of the way across.  
"Two."  
Half way.  
"THREE!".  
Upon reaching the very end of the jetty, the three of them skid to a complete stop, and flung themselves down onto it flat.  
Chloe stuck out her leg at the very last minute Van Helsing and Jonno caught up with them, successfully launching the father and son into the air, canon balling them into the lake with a loud whoosh and fierce splash.

Stakes, bulbs of garlic, a pocket knife, extra silver bullets and the garlic juice gun all soared out of the grips of the pair in mid air, landing on the jetty behind the three with a crunch.

They knew they didn't have much time, and so Vlad, Robin and Chloe seized the gear and began smashing it with their feet against the wood. What else were they to do with it? It was the only way they knew they could stop Van Helsing from getting them. This time.

"Hey! Don't you dare touch those valuable weapons you scoundrels!" Van Helsing spluttered from the middle of the lake, choking on water and trying to keep Jonno a float.  
Of course his calling did no good; the weapons were smashed within no time, and the pieces discarded within the lake.  
Once that job was done, a mad dash back to the campsite was in order, leaving the Van Helsing's to attempt to swim back to the jetty and piece together their weapons again.  
Needless to say Eric was not impressed.

"I'll get you next time, you blood sucking fiend."

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Congratulating themselves on the way back to the campsite, hi-fives and laughter galore at their narrow and tricky escape from the Van Helsing clan yet again, the last thing they were expecting greeted them as they returned.

"There you are, Vladimir."

The Count's cold and smooth voice dripped with fury, and he peered at the site of his son over the top of his sunglasses, obviously disgruntled with Vlad's dirty appearance.

Vlad's heart sank. And from next to him, he could see Robin had gone as stiff as a plank at the site of The Count's menacing glare. As cool as he thought Vlad's father was, he was not immune to the power of a Dracula's wrath.

Graham was standing in the background, looking slightly awkward and fuming. Vlad could tell the two must have had a row.

"CAMPING! Vladimir. Of all the things in the world you could be doing to defy me, you choose to go _camping. _What's wrong with you?! Only pathetic, lowlife _peasants_ go camping!"

Graham's stance faltered. "Hey come on now, I say that's not a very nice accusation!" He was getting pumped up again, balling his hands into fists and his face turning red.  
"Just because it's not apart of the Romanian culture doesn't mean Vlad can't try new things here in Britain! Stop pushing your own morals on the boy and let him decide for _himself_ what he likes and dislikes!"

Robin groaned; this was exactly the sort of thing about his father he'd always hated. When he finally had the guts to stand up to the Count who he had no idea could crush him into smithereens with the snap of a finger.

The Count stopped what he was about to say and turned slowly on the spot to look at Graham. Despite the fears of the children, The Count merely looked amused at his words, rather than furious.

"Vlad, go and pack your things at once; we leave in two minutes." He spoke to his son while still staring at Graham, as if silently daring him to contradict his words.

Vlad didn't need telling twice. He and Robin made their way back to their tent, while Chloe offered to stay out and make sure their father's didn't kill one another through the staring contest they appeared to be having.

Once inside the tent, Vlad slumped onto his mattress and began to pack up his sleeping bag and returning Robin's clothes he'd borrowed. They tidied up in silence, listening with baited breath for any noises outside. The Count appeared to be maintaining his silence.

"Thanks, Robin. For everything." Vlad said miserably once they'd finished.  
"I've had fun, even if it had to be cut short. But I'll see you at school soon won't I?"

Robin laughed. "Of course you will Vlad, when am I not at that horrible place?"

Vlad smiled. "Well, goodbye I guess. I'll see how soon I get can back to school after dad's through with me." His face crumpled. What was his dad going to do to him?

The boys stared at one another for a lingering moment, and Vlad noticed the spot on Robin's neck from the night before; the sunscreen now fading a little.  
All of a sudden the spot seemed to be a lot closer than it was a few seconds ago, and Vlad realised they'd been slowly moving closer to each other subconsciously.  
A finger or two brushed Robin's neck, and with a shaky hand Robin placed his on Vlad's shoulders.

_What were they doing?_Eyes were closed, and the impulse took over them both completely. They were so close they could feel the breath from the other softly caressing their cheeks, and Vlad could hear Robin's heart thumping away madly away in his chest.

A centimetre closer and their lips would be touching. They would be kissing.

This all changed when a gloved hand reached into the tent, pulling out Vlad by the scruff of his neck and crushing what little happiness he had left.

"You've had five minutes Vladimir, we're leaving!" Renfield was waiting nearby, the umbrella not needed any further as it was getting quite dark.

Vlad trudged after his father slowly, his insides tearing him apart as he took one last glance back at the tent. Robin was staring out the door, unmistakably sad, a single tear rolling down his pale cheek, watching Vlad leave with a look of forlorn.

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End file.
